Money Release: Making, Saving, Investing and Debt Management » Investing

9 Top Online Stock Investment Websites

Vic — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:47:02 +0000

If you’re an investor who uses a broker, you might be tired of feeling like you’ve missed the train when everyone bags the hottest pick, or that you’re left holding the bag when everyone jumps ship on a stock. Maybe it’s time to consider online stock trading. The ease, accessibility, and timeliness of online trading have made it a popular alternative for those investing in stocks.

If you’re looking for some options when it comes to online stock investment, here are some of the better-known websites that are available.

1. Scottrade

No, their owner isn’t Mr. Scott; the company was just founded in Scottsdale, Arizona. You may remember the president and founder of the company, Rodger Riney, touting their $7 online stock trades on television. You can utilize the site’s handy ‘Online Brokerage Comparison’ tool to compare Scottrade to other brokerages in a number of different categories including, ‘Minimum Initial Deposit’, ‘Pricing Options’, ‘Account Closing and Transfer Fees’, ‘Account Maintenance Fees’, and others.

2. OptionsHouse

Promoting ‘Value’, ‘Speed’, and ‘Stability’, Optionshouse.com allows you to experiment with ‘Virtual Dollars’ if you’d like, before ever making a real trade. Take the online tour for a brief, yet informative overview of their site and services or review their ‘Rates’ page to get an idea of what you’ll be paying for trades. You might also want to check out their promotion for a 100 free trades when you open a new account.

3. E*TRADE

Get quotes, charts, news, and more, at E*Trade. Their available resources can help you with getting started if you are new to online trading, perform research, conduct your banking, plan for retirement – and of course trade stocks. There are a slew of available tools to help you maximize your investing performance at Etrade.com.

4. ZECCO

If you have time to tear yourself away from educating yourself with Zecco.com’s free quotes, research areas, and other investment tools, you may choose to partake in the ‘Community’ portion of the site where, as a member, you can participate in blogs, forums, and the ‘Zecco Zimulator’, their ‘free trading game’. Check out the site’s ‘Commission and Fees’ page for information regarding their pricing.

5. TD AMERITRADE

As if having Sam Waterston (famed Great Gatsby and Law and Order actor) urging you to use their services wasn’t enough, TD Ameritrade also offers a variety of investment information. Access to market overviews, currencies and commodities information, global market reports, and a variety of trading, planning and retirement resources are just a few of the investment tools at your disposal.

6. Fidelity Investments

Fidelity does more than just manage retirement accounts. Touting their ‘Low Commissions’, ‘Independent Research, ‘24/7 Service’, and such trading tools as ‘Wireless Trading’ and ‘Active Trader Pro’, Fidelity offers plenty of tools for the online stock trader. You can also choose from a wide selection of research and news items to bolster your trading knowledge.

7. Schwab Active Trading

If you’re new to the whole online trading thing, you might want to visit the Charles Schwab ‘New to Investing’ page. They also have an informative ‘Trading Demo’ to guide you through the finer points of using the site as well as a great ‘Savings Fundamentals’ page for the investor who might have lost touch with the basics of saving for things like college, a home, or an emergency fund.

8. optionsXpress

Research tools, access to live help and support, and educational devices such as webinars, workshops, and the ability to try your hand at virtual trading are just a few of the available options at Optionsxpress.com.

9. MarketWatch

Maybe it’s just some good investment information or advice that you’re looking for. If that’s the case, you might want to check out Thestreet.com. With links to other investing sites, tons of market analysis, and access to a multitude of market stories and research, it might be hard not to find what you’re looking for when it comes to investment information.

This is a post from Tom at Money Choices, one of the home loan comparison websites for Australians. Tom also contributes impartial reviews of other financial products such as bank accounts and loans.

What is a Structured Settlement Investment?

Jay — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:24:06 +0000

Selecting for a structured settlement investment is a viable method in gaining profit for business. This settlement is typically paid out to people over duration of time. It can be the output of a court judgment, annuities, lottery winnings, or an insurance payout. For various reasons, the recipients of this settlement investment are willing to exchange payments for a cash or lump sum of money.

A structured settlement investment may also refer to the legal agreement between a defender and a plaintiff whereas the former is allowed to pay at certain amount of money in single lump cash or intermittent installments. In this kind of investment, the plaintiff is often the one who agrees the dismissal of the case. This only happens after the defendant had paid the fixed financial settlement. There are two essential components of a structured settlement investment. The first component is the payment installments made at regular intervals while the second component refers to the due payment amount in one installment.

There is one type of a structured settlement investment that should be avoided. This type is wherein one needs to pay the entire cash amount in one lump. It usually happens in cases where the probability of sudden damages takes place in forms of lifetime and instant requirements. In addition to this type of structured settlement investment, the immediate needs become more predictable, thus the business can be prepared for the future. During the early times, this type of structured settlement investment is often known as the retirement plans or pension plans.

A structured settlement investment is similar with the requirements of immediate cash or loan. It may have minimal risk factor and extremely low tax rates that a usual borrower is likely to get. If a structured settlement investment has minimal risk factor, the individual can opt for other alternatives available in the market. This kind of settlement investment is often regulated by laws of both federal and state government. With extremely low tax rates, a structured settlement investment can be helpful in minimizing the liability level of an individual on the tax required to be paid by the plaintiff.

A structured settlement investment is also considered one of the best ways in financing a home aside from business. All payments done in this kind of investment are in forms of dollars and tax free currency. In addition, there is also maintenance of tax write-off. The investment is also used a method in funding retirement, starting a business, and investing in a home purchase. The payment stream of this investment is also fixed at a given period of time. It tends to increase and counterbalance the effects of inflation throughout lifetime. With this, the individual is assured that his or her payments can survive. Apparently, in cases of permanent injuries, it is recommended that the structured settlement investment is much higher.

Just like other kinds of investment, the structured settlement investment has its own disadvantages as well. The most common one is when the injured party will not receive any direct amount since the money tends to be stretched in longer time period.

What is a Mutual Fund? Risks and Advantages

Victorino — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:07:47 +0000

What is a mutual fund?
From the words “mutual” and “fund”, a mutual fund is a collective investment system that pools funds or money collected from several investors to invest it in stocks, bonds, real-estate, short-term money, market instruments and or other types of securities. A fund manager trades the pooled fund in a regular basis. The net profit or losses are then usually distributed to the investors annually.

Risks:
All investments promise returns. However, they also involve risks. Investors on mutual funds may suffer from different types of investment risks. These risks may also depend on what type of investment the fund manager has the fund invested. An example is if the fund is invested in bonds, it may encounter risks such as credit risks and interest risks. Credit risk is the possibility that a bond issuer will fail to repay interest and principal in a timely manner – also called default risk. While interest risk is the possibility that a bond fund will decline in value because of an increase in interest rates. On the other hand, if the fund is invested in stocks, it may face risks such as industry risks and income risks. Industry risk is the possibility that a group of stocks in a single industry will decline in price due to an unfavorable business activity in that industry. Further, income risk is the possibility that dividend income will decline due to poor financial performance of the company where the fund is invested. Mutual funds may also suffer risks such as currency risk, inflation risk, market risk, political risk and management risk.

Advantages:
Mutual fund became a popular investing vehicle because of its many advantages over the other kinds of investments. The following are the five advantages of putting your money on mutual fund:

Diversification
Asset diversification is an ideal rule of investing. It is used to manage and eliminate investment risks. Diversification is the process of mixing investments within a portfolio. A single mutual fund can hold securities from hundreds or even thousands of issuers or industries. Consequently, this ability reduces the risks of a serious loss due to problems brought by a single issuer or company.

Professional Management
Every mutual fund is managed by a professional fund manager. This manager uses the invested money to buy and sell stock, bonds and other types of investments that he or she has carefully researched. Hence, if you will invest in a mutual fund, you don’t need to do a thorough research on each of your investments. The manager does all the professional research and management of your funds and investment.

Liquidity
Mutual funds can be purchased and sold at any time like regular shares of stocks. This advantage gives the investors easy access and liquidity of their funds. With mutual funds, investors can easily get in and get out from the investment vehicle.

Economies of Scale
Investors can reduce transaction costs by buying more shares in a mutual fund. You can also be able to diversify your investments without the numerous commission charges in doing such. Mutual funds can make transactions on a larger range at a cheaper cost.

Divisibility
Small investors don’t have the amount of money to buy large selection and variety of securities. Further, commissions and brokerage fees add up to the cost of buying investments such as in bonds and in stocks. With mutual fund, investors can acquire shares in small denominations for as low as $100 minimum in some mutual fund companies.

Mutual fund is one investment vehicle that promises certain yield without facing too much risk. However, this investing opportunity should be always adopted with careful considerations from analyzing trends to comparing other alternatives. Although a mutual fund has its own professional money manager, you will still be the ultimate manager of your own fund or money.

Reference:
Finance Yahoo – Advantages of mutual funds
Wikipedia – Mutual Funds
NASDAQ – Advantage of mutual funds